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Pontoon Lift Quesion

Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2018 12:54 pm
by Zinnut
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I have a 23' Premier PTX and my lift service company has advised me that there is some damage (flattening) to [img][img][img][/img][/img][/img]the rear of the two outside toons at the point where the rear cross beam is located. He says this cross beam is too far forward from the ear of the toons (4.5') and there is too much unsupported weight at the rear of the boat. Where should the cross beams be located referenced from the rear of the toons to properly support the weight of the boat on the lift?

Re: Pontoon Lift Quesion

Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2018 6:12 pm
by Bamaman
Pontoons and tritoons do not need to be supported sitting on two cross braces. They need to be stored on a rack that essentially looks like a square wheelless trailer with bunks underneath the toons running lengthwise.

I made the same mistake when I used 6 inch wide nylon straps on my 1985 Starcraft pontoon. It too left some dents in the toons. The good news was that performance wasn't affected.

I purchased about $500 of 4 inch channel steel and some angle iron to make my 10' s 20' rack. I completely prefabricated the rack in my driveway drilling dozens and dozens of holes for grade 8 bolts. My boat is sitting on two 2x8s under each toon that are 20' long. I also fabricated carpeted guides on each side of the boat to guide my boat on the rack when docking.

I had no problem disassembling and reassembling the rack after sliding each piece of steel down a steep hill to my boathouse. It beat paying a tugboat with a barge and crane to install the rack--like my neighbors did.

Re: Pontoon Lift Quesion

Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2018 4:54 am
by Zinnut
My lift is not sitting on the crossbeams. There are flatboards on top of the crossbeams running parallel with the toons. But those boards are sagging between the crossbeams and not doing any support along the length of the toons.

Re: Pontoon Lift Quesion

Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2018 6:31 am
by Bamaman
Sounds like it the lengthwise boards are not properly supported if there are dents. Mine have cross braces every four feet.